|
WHO IS VIRAGO?
Studying the human condition has always been at the root of my creative process. Looking at the experience of "woman" in our human world is fascinating and has always influenced my artistic work. As I drew the model, Rebekah, over the first few years that she was available in group life drawing sessions, she beckoned sketches from me that were rich in potential to express some feeling experiences that women have had throughout time. The images that came to me from her poses, through my pencil, onto the paper, accumulated and I felt the building of potential. Strength, softness, happiness, sadness, perseverance, remorse, grief, power, strife, fear are to mention some of the feelings that surfaced through the artistic study of this one fascinating human figure. Webster's Dictionary says of "virago": "warrior woman", one of several attributes that flow from this word. You will find Virago and her assorted attributes laced through every piece of this work striving to remind you of the powerful feelings in the experience of being woman. |
| WHY CORVIDAE?
Over the years I, like many, have been drawn to members of the Corvidae family of birds, but with little idea why. As the muse, Rebekah, stirred my imagination, so too arrived the partner muse, the raven. I began to realize the pairing between some of the Corvidae family of birds and the Virago drawings. I also happened upon augury (foretelling) focusing on the Corvidae. In the development of the story of Virago and her emotional experiences, the Corvidae augury formed a base. Crow augury was easy to come by and it stirred the first of the finished pencil drawings. As I worked with the images of the crow I began to wonder about them, how and why they stirred humans, historically, causing us to create the augury and hand it down, from mouth to mouth, author anonymous. It is the intelligence of these birds that both fascinates and threatens us, and makes them so often human like. The more curious I got, the more I began to realize that it was the intelligence of the birds of this family that gave them the potential to communicate in the story of Virago. Reading some of the research that has been done on the Corvidae opened my interest in these birds with their many human like qualities and reactions. Capturing their images with my camera for reference material led me into a deepening relationship with them and resulted in a long ongoing study with both the camera and the reading and the drawing. |
| ATRIST STATEMENT
My work as an artist is two dimensional, using primarily graphite on paper as a medium. Some of the work in this series, "Corvidae and Virago", is done on Bristol paper using pencil and plastic eraser. Use of the pencil and eraser allows me to capture the literal and realistic. In this body of work, I also set out to explore the use of graphite powder on Stonehenge paper, in order to obtain a more painterly affect. The powder was applied using a chamois and assorted smaller soft tipped tools. Occasionally some colour was added in the form of dry powdered pigments or ink. In the application of the powders I was forced to give up the control offered by the pencil which proved at first alarming and then delightful! In the body of work, "Corvidae and Virago", which I began in 2004, it was my intention to apply the use of a single figure model and four Corvidae birds-crows, magpies, ravens and Stellar's jays. Chiaroscuro (the treatment of light and dark), portraiture and augury (foretelling) were interests I wanted to study and incorporate. I had encountered a particular model that stirred my imagination and evoked emotion. Consulting dictionaries for a definition of the word "virago" - I liked best, "warrior woman" -- confirmed the application of this descriptive word. Sitting in a cabin in rural Alaska one evening, developing a sketch of the model, I was visited by a muse in the form of a raven! It was a joyful and noisy occasion, which occurred completely in my imagination. I knew then that "Virago" would be paired with "Corvidae" in this exploration. Along with the raven, a piece of crow augury came to my notice that evening. The augury focused on ideas that tied in with the emotions the model evoked. Thus the study began! I needed reference material and set out to photograph crows, magpies, ravens and Stellar's jays. A fascination with the birds developed. Between Alaska, British Columbia, Calgary and Washington state, hundreds of reference images were collected. Most of them were shot by me but occasionally by encouraging friends. I spent as much time in the presence of the birds as they would allow! Corvidae birds in the wild are often skittish of humans and I found many of the encounters gathering reference material brief, fascinating and challenging. Urban corvidae tended to be less fearful and easier to photograph. My curiosity of the birds grew and I pursued more knowledge. Libraries and friends led me to a reading list where I was able to learn more about them and their habits, in order to better represent them in the drawings. During 2007-2008 a weekly session with the model produced many drawings and reference photographs. Because of the regularity of the sessions, they became a meditation full of opportunity. An investigation of powdered graphite, powdered pigment, portraiture, light and dark ensued. In this open-ended exploration, through the use of research, experimentation, study and time, the body of work, "Corvidae and Virago" emerged. |